Vermont Philharmonic

The Vermont Philharmonic opens its 66th season with a concert program that includes rarely heard music from the ragtime era and the Italian verismo opera.

The program opens with the overture to Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha, composed in 1911 but not performed until 1972. Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1976.

The program continues with two versions of the Bamboula, a West Indian dance. Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s 1848 piano version will be performed by local virtuoso pianist Stephen Brown. The orchestra will also perform Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s version dating from 1910.

After the intermission, the music of Italian opera takes over with Pietro Mascagni’s 1890 prelude to Cavalleria rusticana, and music and arias from Umberto Giordano’s 1896 opera Andrea Chenier. Singers include Elizabeth Perryman, soprano; Adam Laurence Herskowitz, tenor; and Michel Kabay, baritone.

Celebrating its 66th Season, the Vermont Philharmonic is composed of professional and talented amateur musicians from throughout Vermont. It is Vermont’s oldest community orchestra, founded in 1959 by Jon Borowicz, emeritus professor of music at Norwich University. Since 1993, the Philharmonic’s home base has been the Barre Opera House. Lou Kosma has been the Music Director of the Philharmonic since 1999.

Scott Joplin, Overture to Treemonisha

Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Bamboula, Op. 2 – Stephen Brown, piano

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, The Bamboula, Op. 75

Pietro Mascagni, Prelude from Cavalleria rusticana

Umberto Giordano, Un di all’azzurro spazia from Andrea Chenier – Adam Laurence Herskowitz, tenor

Umberto Giordano, La mamma morta from Andrea Chenier – Elizabrth Peryman, soprano

Umberto Giordano, Act IV from Andrea Chenier – Elizabeth Perryman, soprano, Adam Laurence Herskowitz, tenor, Michel Kabay, baritone

Enjoy a delicious dinner from the Kitchen at HCA before the concert! Order your dinner in advance when you purchase your tickets online, and dinner will be waiting for you when you arrive. Dinner service starts at 5:00PM. A limited number of meals will be available for on-site purchase.

Chef Anneliese will be preparing a buffet dinner including sweet and sour chicken with rice, sweet and sour tempeh, spinach salad with maple balsamic dressing, and quinoa salad.  For dessert, there will be brownies and ice cream.